Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

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Birthdays: Handmade, Homemade

Maribelle

Summertime

One Treat After Another

Oh My Sweet Baby

The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook

All photographs, artwork and written material are copyrighted by Marica Thompson 2010 – 2017. If you have questions or would like permission to use content from this site please email me at: maricathompson@gmail.com

What a fun snow we had. I absolutely enjoyed every minute of it! The snow is rare, which probably makes it a whole lot easier to love. But goodness, it was a nice change of pace. We spent so much time home, kids and all, just relaxing, playing, baking and storing up on together-time knowing that the restaurant will soon be open and who knows when the next time we will be able to just lay-low like this.

CUSTARD PIE RECIPE

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl combine:

3 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

Sauté and then add to the rest of the ingredients:

1 bunch chopped collards or greens of your choice

4 cloves garlic minced

Add:

1+1/2 cups cooked and sliced fingerling potatoes

Optional: 1 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Pour into an oiled pie pan and top with:

Lemon zest

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the center is fairly firm when you shake the pan.

BRAN MUFFIN RECIPE

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl combine:

3 eggs

1/3 cup molasses

3/4 cup coconut milk

3/4 cup safflower oil

1 cup wheat bran

3/4 cup oats

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup applesauce

1/2 cup rye flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Sift together and then add to the rest of the ingredients:

2 cups unbleached white flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blueberries

Pour into an oiled muffin pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Snow in Portland is a rare treat. An occasion that stops the city in its tracks and beckons a large number of people to go out walking. My daughter and I spent a wonderful afternoon trekking through the novel whiteness, taking pictures and (hee hee hee; singing a few Christmas carols).

We got SNOW!!! They had talked about it coming on Christmas, but no such luck. Still, in some ways this was even better. Right when the after Christmas blues were about to hit, a snowball did instead. Yes, LOTS of snowballs. We had a good, finger freezing, rosy cheeked blasting, snowball frenzy. It was lovely. We played in the day and then by evening when we thought the best of the snow was over it started up again, this time even bigger flakes. The kids headed outside once more and built a snowman by the yellow glow of the street lights.

Thank you mini snowstorm, we miss you already!

Now for that tiramisu recipe: I have made tiramisu for years; this way and that way, with more ingredients and less. Sometimes using Kahlua sometimes with no alcohol at all. But this year I had an idea about using eggs which I usually omit. I don’t mind raw egg too much, but when we don’t have our own chickens to get them from I am more wary. So, what I did was make a custard instead. I am not a good judge when it comes to traditional tiramisu because I don’t know if I’ve ever had a truly traditional tiramisu. Most restaurants that sell tiramisu bring out something tasty but much sweeter than I can handle. Even this recipe is a little too sweet for me, but a far cry from what sugar load it could have. Sweet or not, it came out wonderfully, and I watched as in disappeared quickly from the refrigerator, nobody really fessing up as the one who gobbled the last slices.

Take out about 36 ladyfingers. Dip each one in the cold coffee and place into a 9“x11″ baking dish. Continue until the entire bottom is lined. Now spread half of the custard over the ladyfingers, then half of the unsweetened whipped cream. Sprinkle half of the grated chocolate and then repeat making a layer of dipped lady fingers, custard, whipped cream and then chocolate. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. I noticed the next day the tiramisu had aged into the perfect consistency, so if you have more ability to plan ahead then I do, make it a day in advanced.

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!

Between running a pie truck and painting pictures, rallying three rambunctious children and sneaking moments to savor every last drop of tea in my cup, I write this mini log of what I love to do best—keep my hands busy making something . . . Thank you for stopping by, I truly love your comments! Leave a link to your blog, I’d love to stop by!